Magic Knight Rayearth vol 3

Do Umi and Fuu remind anyone else a bit of Kurogane and Fai? Only, you know, sans the unhealthy levels of angst. And “Zomg! Look! We’re deep in the closet!” I think it’s Umi and Kurogane’s deep and abiding one-sided rivalry with their respective Mokona’s.

( Swirly lines mean action overload! )

I just wish I could tell how much I’d be liking this if I hadn’t been brainwashed by Clamp over the last year.

My reading woes! I share them!

Book 1(started yesterday): Really liked the trilogy I read by the author earlier this year. Looked forward to this one. Was initially throw by direct writing style turning wordy, but didn't worry too much. Reached about page 280 and realized I still cared nothing about any characters, and the interesting set-up didn't seem to be going anywhere. Was also made uncomfortable by the romance. (Look, men in fantasy: Stop falling for these girls you trained/raised when she was 10 and you were 20-something.)

Book 2: By page 3, it is confirmed that, in this society, there is one day a year where all women are forbidden to wear any clothing, and have to have sex with any male who asks them to. What appears to be the main character has a problem with this only because it means others might have sex with his girlfriend, not because there's a problem with the system. (And it sounded like such a promising take on dragons/dragonslayer, too...)

Book 3: YA fantasy with alternating first person present tense narratives. Am very fond of the other 3 books by the author I've read, so I'll stick with it a bit more, but still! Two first person present tense narrators!

manga: Legend of Chun Hyang(complete)

So, as some of you know, I have a slightly odd history with Clamp. Way back when (5 years ago? 6?) when I was new to manga, I read three of their titles. One was Wish, a cute story about a romance between an angel and a human doctor. I liked it until I got halfway through the last volume, and then the ending made me mad. Then there was Chobits. I read it in a slightly dazed “What, really?” state, a bit annoyed the whole time, then I got to the end and left off confused, mildly offended, and positive the final explanations had contradicted themselves a few times. And I swore off Clamp forever. Somewhere in there was Legend of Chun Hyang, a very fun one volume shoujo adpating the Korean legend. Sadly, it fell victim to the post-Chobits irritation. Then we fast forward to around a year ago, where the pretty of xxxHolic made me break the no-Clamp rule, and it and Tsubasa slowly brainwashed me into the Clamp fangirl I am today.

In Clamp’s version, Chun Hyang is a fourteen-year-old martial artist who fights the goons of the corrupt local Yang Ban (magistrate). Her mother, Wall Bae, is a famous Mu Dang (medicine woman) who has kept the identity of Chun Hyang’s father a secret from everyone, even Chun Hyang. Shortly after Wall Bae agrees to let a traveler named Mong Ryong stay with them, the Yang Dan’s son has her arrested. When Chun Hyang goes to rescue her mother, she learns that Mong Ryong is the Am-Hang-Osa, a government official out to uncover all the corruption in Koriyo’s 321 districts, and deal out justice. Later, the two travel Koriyo together to do just that.

Chun Hyang is what I’m coming to learn is the norm for Clamp’s heroines. As I’ve liked them all so far, I have no objections to this. Though she is a touch more violent than the rest. Mong Ryong is of the “I act silly and like I take nothing seriously, but I actually take everything very seriously” variety. That normally annoys me, but I seem to like it when it’s Clamp. He also may or may not be something of a lech. It’s hard to tell how much is real, how much is to tease Chun Hyang, and how much is because he might like Chun Hyang. He tells her to warn him if she’s going to be violent, deliberately provokes her, then asks why she didn’t warn him after he gets beat up. Since this is Clamp, I’m assuming all that is a mutual code for “I love you.”

All I have to say is: Clamp! Why is this only one volume? I could have read it for ages! The early Tsubasa story doesn’t count! It was an AU! And there was no Mong Ryong! And couldn't you have at least told us who her father is?